Disneyland Paris- Friday, July 19, 2013

     Today was the third time that Scott and Julie have been to Disneyland, Paris, and was the 2nd time for Anna and Emma.   (We've tried to count the number of times we've been to Disney parks in general, but decided we can't do it without consulting our old photographs.)  The Disney complex here is now actually two parks- Disneyland Paris and the Disney Studios.  We went to Disney Studios this morning.  It's roughly comparable to the Disney Studios park in Florida (formerly Disney MGM), and takes its thematic cues from classic Hollywood.  It's smaller than the first park, and we figured that we would see what we wanted to here, and then go to Disneyland in the evening.

     We got up early enough to go to 7:00 breakfast at the hotel, because we were warned about the rush that comes later.  It felt good to not have to hunt down a way to get breakfast on our own the way we have the last few days in Paris.  If you know Julie, you know that she was excited to get going early in order to use the opportunity to get us to the park before the gates opened.  The scheduled time to open was 10:00, but the gates opened a half-hour early, and Julie said "I told you so!"

     This park is dominated by the Pixar characters, and the three girls started at the Crush Coaster.  It's a dark ride, that spins you around on a roller coaster track.   Julie compared it to Space Mountain in that way.   In spite of the fact that we've been here before, this ride was the first of several that were new to us this morning.  We all rode together on the Les Tapis Volants , which are supposed to be the flying carpets from Aladdin.   A Toy Story section of the park came next, where the three girls rode the Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop , and the Slinky Dog Zigzag Spin.

     We took the Studio Lot Tour, which takes its inspiration from the Universal Lot tour, but falls far short.  There is similar ride at Disney Studios in Florida (and it has similar problems),  but the one here is much shorter.  At no time do you feel that you're on a working movie lot, and the props, sets and vehicles are from movies that are less than memorable.  There was a lot of stuff from "Dinotopia," for example.  Really, Disney?  Instead of using things old productions that nobody cares about, couldn't you put some things there from "John Carter of Mars" or "The Lone Ranger" or some other more recent productions that nobody cares about?

     It was about 11:00, and time for an early lunch.  We ate at the Restaurant des Stars, which is an all-you-can-eat buffet, with a very hefty price tag for a family of four-- twice what we were planning on paying.  The big attraction of eating there was getting to see Remy, the little chef from "Ratatouille."  The rat came from table to table on a serving cart with a companion who talked with us.   We had just missed seeing Remy the last time we were here, and we were glad to meet him while we're in Paris.  The food here was good, but not particularly kid friendly.  Julie was the only one of us who took the opportunity to try actual ratatouille.  The desserts were a hit, with chocolate mousse and very light cheesecake.   The biggest disappointment was that drinks were an extra charge, with no refills.

    We had gotten Fast Passes to the Tower of Terror, but when we returned at the given time, the ride was not running.   Later, the three girls got into line for the Rockin' Roller Coaster, but when they were just about ready to get on, that ride stopped operating too.  Anna and Julie were later able to use their Fast Passes for the Tower of Terror, while Scott and Emma waited, but the passes that they received from the wait for Rockin' Roller Coaster were unused at the end of the night.

     The show called "Stitch Live" was a hit.  It was a funny show, and must be different every time it's done.  The animated Stitch interacts with the people from the audience, and picks on a few of them, including "Crazy Rudolph from Germany," in the show we saw. Emma had gotten a stuffed Stitch last night, along with his girlfriend, "Angel," and she would get a second Stitch when she was shopping later in the evening.  

     We also liked the show called, "Cinemagique."  It starts as a tribute to classic Hollywood films and genres.  A real man in the audience begins annoying the people on screen because of his cell phone and loud talking. The man gets sucked magically into the film we are watching, where he is played by Martin Short.  Then, in a style somewhat like Forest Gump, he interacts with old actors and actresses using scenes and reactions shots from many classic movies, too numerous to mention.  In this way, this attraction seems to take the place of the Great Movie Ride in Disney Studios, Florida.  It is enjoyable, and one of the more memorable new things from the day.

     We went to the show called, "Animagique" next, but it was somewhat more lame.  Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse showcase Disney songs.  They are portrayed here by costumed perfomers under black lights.  There are a few examples of interesting effects in the florescent lights.  The "Pink Elephants on Parade" number, for example, was appropriately surreal.  However, a couple of us had a hard time keeping our eyes open in the comfortable seating and air conditioning.  The framing song is a bit annoying.

     We had seen enough of Disney Studios, and we left the park for Disneyland.   It's a short walk past the Disney Village shopping area.  While we were coming on to Main Street, Scott commented that THIS felt more like "Disney" than Disney Studios.  Even if there were some things off and different here and there, it is here that the Magic Kingdom parks of the US are reflected, and here that the enjoyment and nostalgia is highest for us.

     We started to the left of Main Street, and grabbed a quick dinner at "Casey's Corner," at its far end.  As we entered Frontierland, we explored the western "fort" that guards its entrance.  We then rode on the riverboat called the "Molly Brown."  Scott said it's probably the first time that he's ever been in a Magic Kingdom-style park where the first thing that we rode was the riverboats, but the ride was relaxing and we needed that.  Next, Julie and Anna went to Phantom Manor, which is this park's version of the Haunted Mansion.  Emma couldn't be convinced to go on it, so Scott waited with her.  Julie says that this Haunted Mansion is her favorite of the three.  She thinks the ride is longer.  She also likes how the ride follows more of a story instead of being simply random ghostly scenes, though most of the familiar scenes are included here as well.

     We were then by Adventureland, and we walked up and through Le Cabane des Robinson, AKA the Swiss Family Robinson's treehouse.  We talked Emma into going on Pirates of the Caribbean.  She didn't like it and said she kept her eyes shut for the whole ride, but it's another one that is one of Julie's favorites at any Disney Park.  However, there's no Captain Jack Sparrow added to this one yet, and if they say "We wants the redhead," at all, the line is much quieter.

     We started on our way through Fantasyland.  We went to Peter Pan's Flight, which is very much the same as in other parks.  We then went to Alice's Curious Labyrinth.  We've seen this maze here before, and enjoyed it.  Even though it's geared for kids, it's challenging enough to be fun for adults and still somehow pulls you through the scenes of Disney's version of Alice in Wonderland, complete with music.  We then went to "it's a small world," and the lines were getting shorter since it was getting later.  We had Fast Passes for the Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster that we all enjoyed.  That was the last attraction for us, however. Many of us had hurting feet, and we were all getting tired and grumpy, even though we didn't want to admit it.   We reluctantly decided that it was not a good idea to stay for the fireworks tonight, even though it was after 10:00.  We took the bus back to the hotel, and promised to try to make it to the fireworks tomorrow.  For now, we're all tired.  (This blog page is being written and posted a day later.  The first version simply said: "No post today.  Disneyland.  Probably the same situation tomorrow (Saturday).")

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Versailles- Thursday, July 18, 2013

It was a chore getting up today, and it was especially hard to wake up the girls. We knocked on the door to their room for an hour. We called their room (Anna later said that she thought she had dreamed that the phone was ringing.) We tried getting another key card from the front desk, but that wasn't working. We finally got them roused at about 8:00. We got all out backpacks packed, checked out of the hotel, and left all our stuff in the baggage room. Then we went for breakfast at a cafe around the corner, near the train station. We had French breakfasts, including croissants, omlettes, and crepes. We then took the RER train to Versailles.

It was about 11:00 when we got to Versailles. It was hot and crowded, and we took a while to get acquainted with the grounds and come up with a plan. It turns out the museum pass we bought yesterday got us in to Versailles, but it didn't let us skip the monster-long line for security that you need to get through to enter the palace. Instead of going to the gardens first, Julie and Scott decided to wait in the hot sun for almost two hours. Anna and Emma sat in what shade they could find nearby, until we snaked through the line far enough to get in.

Usually, it's Scott that is the one who is particularly excited to see an historical place, but this time it was Julie. She has taught about Louis XIV in her social studies classes many times, and she was excited to see the palace that the Sun King built to emphasize his absolute monarchy. Every detail in this place is designed to focus on his power and glory, and in that sense, this building seems to be almost as much of an expression of the builder's philosophy as Jefferson's Monticello is of his. Unfortunately, much like the Louvre, the building was packed solid with the shuffling mass of people. Scott and Julie shared earphones to listen to Rick Steves narration of the tour. Anna didn't listen, but was taking many pictures. Emma seemed merely to tolerate the whole thing. Most rooms were covered from floor to ceiling with decoration, and often made it look like the gigantic paintings hanging there were part of the room. Scott enjoyed the allegory and classical mythology in the decorations. We saw many of the important rooms, the most impressive of which was the Hall of Mirrors, where the Treaty of Versailles was signed.

By the second half of the tour, however, we were pushing to get through because it was after 2:00, we hadn't eaten, and Julie and Scott had been standing or shuffling for over 3 hours. Scott's patience had reached a breaking point. We needed food and the ability to cool down, so we left the palace to return to the McDos we saw on the way in, about a block away.

 After a break, we were all much more refreshed and able to think clearly. Scott talked the group into going back to the palace because we had only seen a peek of the famous gardens, and he really wanted chance to see more. We decided to wait to rent a golf cart which we were able to use to drive ourselves through much of the grounds. It was a great experience, we all agreed, and it made it possible for us to enjoy Versailles again. You couldn't drive the cart anywhere you wanted because they had to stay on a particular route, but the route was designed as a one hour tour that showed you much of the grounds, and provided classical music and English language narration. The cart was slow enough that Anna and Emma could chase after it and jump onto the back seat, which also showed that they were getting some energy back.

 We then had to trek to our new hotel near Disneyland Paris. We took the RER train back to our first hotel. Scott and Anna got the luggage while Julie and Emma got information and bought tickets to the next destination. We had a couple of false starts and moments of confusion. The oddest moment was when everyone on our train was asked to disembark three stations short of our stop. The next train did the same thing. We'll probably never know why. Eventually, we made it to Disneyland. The last train station on this line empties right at the front gate of the park. We found the shuttle bus to take us to our nearby hotel and lugged our backpacks there. Our room is small, but it has a set of bunkbeds for the girls this time. Emma is sleeping on the bottom because of the "incident" of her falling out of the upper bunk back in 2009. These seem much more sturdily built.

 By now it was around 9:00 and we hadn't eaten dinner. The three girls were full of energy, and had been looking forward to going shopping in the Disney Village. We made our way to Annette's, the 50s themed diner where we have eaten before. The food tasted really good, but the service was slow, and Anna seemed cursed. They kept forgetting about her order. The girls loved shopping in the two large Disney stores after dinner, although the Disney Village is quite a bit smaller then the ones in California and Florida, and seemed to have a large part of it closed off. Emma bought a stuffed Stitch and Angel, Stitch's girlfriend.  Anna bought some postcards for the kids she babysits.  We didn't get back to the hotel until about 11:30.